We've been wondering for a couple of days what to do with this. The
UK news magazine Cycling Weekly ran a story on the demise of the Linda
McCartney team last week, and team boss Julian Clark soon fired off
a response. He CC:ed Cyclingnews, and at least one other website that
has claimed this as an exclusive.
We've said before that it's easy to look for someone to blame in this
situation, and as team boss Clark must shoulder some responsibility.
But if Clark's claims are true, then he has also been a victim of -
to put it kindly - clumsy handling by his sponsors, and perhaps his
ambition for his team blinded him to the commercial realities of the
team's situation.
This is probably the final word on the LMC team - or at least that's
what Clark says he hopes. It's a sorry, angry coda to an ambitious project.
It's presented here entirely unedited except for corrections to spelling
and punctuation.
Julian Clark.
STATEMENT. (Re Cycling Weekly story which was totally expected.)
I would like to make a few points very clear regarding your story
in last week's magazine.
The first point is that you have said that British Cycling is left
with another mess to clear up. I would like to point out that last
September when you reported that we had signed Neil Stephens "even
though" he was part of the Festina Doping Scandal (were you thinking
for the best of British Cycling?)
A week or so later another report by you that we had signed Juan
Carlos Dominguez even with the fact that he had failed a haematocrit
test in the 1998 Vuelta.
You were the only magazine who reported a negative aspect to this.
Do you not realize that whilst over a period of months when we are
in negotiations with these companies that we furnish them with papers
and magazines that the team will feature in!!!!!!
I will give you some background on the Linda McCartney Team.
When I first agreed terms with them in 1998 it was a one year contract.
Having not been to a British Cycling event before I did not know what
to expect only having previously been involved with motorcycle racing.
After going to the first two Premier Calendar races I very quickly
made the decision that I in fact had to keep the sponsors away from
races until such time as the team were going to be in International
events which I had only seen on TV and videos. Anyway this was done
and they were kept in touch weekly with the teams progress by race
reports and media reports.
If we had taken them to races where the only spectators were mainly
either riders family or the odd sheep they would certainly not have
signed for a further three years.
In the middle of 1998 a further three year contract was signed.
The only part that was not good was that I had requested a yearly
review of the investment as I had discussed with them the plans to
make the team bigger each year. When I discussed this with my contact
in the company he said he would get it re done but this was never
done. When I asked this question to my contact in recent telephone
conversation he simply replied, "because it wasn't."
1998. The team employed six riders which included myself all of
which were paid a reasonable wage as professionals. All of the riders
before the team came along had no sponsor and no income to ride their
bikes, and apart from the Brite team no riders were being paid as
professionals.
1999. Brite team stopped. Again riders were employed when there
were no jobs in the sport.
1999 Cycling Weekly (front page) "Brits are ditched by UK's top
team." I have been and am still in some cases friends with riders
we let go. They would be the first to admit that at their age they
would not want to race on the continent, as far as they were concerned
each extra year they were paid to ride their bikes was a huge bonus.
You compared us to Men's Health and Harrods. Remember some of these
riders went on to be riders for our team.
When we were paying riders somewhere between £16,000 and £20,000
to ride the other two teams were paying riders anywhere between £1,000
and £2,500 per year.
Anyway moving on. You said that the contract was finished and they
were only lending us the name. As I said the contract did not finish
until November 2001. That is until one week ago when a letter arrived
by e-mail stating that the contract had now been terminated.
Pascal Richard. Regarding Pascal Richard. Please contact the UCI
and find out why he came out of the Giro? Why he did not race for
the team after July. Also Pascal Richard didn't turn up for races
for the team, etc, etc, all this when he was being paid!!!!!!
Negotiations were taking place with a number of multi international
companies, two of which you have reported on. When it looked like
things were going to conclude and you have totally been led to believe
that LMC Foods will be coming in when it gets late in the year and
you get the negative response you are already committed. With regard
to Jaguar it was only three days before Xmas that a negative response
came through. If a decision is not made in December on clothing designs
it is not possible to have clothing for Tour Down Under.
With regard to Jacobs Creek the response came earlier and I agreed
on a small investment and they would be supplying wines for our hospitality
plans. I agreed to run their logo on the jersey to show what we could
do for the brand in Europe and then sit round the table in the middle
of the year to discuss 2002. If they decided against it we would remove
their branding and move on.
At this point under the impression that LMC Foods will be coming
in I am committed but believe I have the breathing space to either
bring another sponsor in or have further discussions with LMC Foods
to discuss increasing their investment not knowing at this point that
they in fact will be putting nothing into the team.
Even before we made the decision to move the team to France to start
building it, my contact assured me that now Heinz had taken over from
McVities they would be investing in the team as McVities were only
interested in the UK market and with LMC Foods plans to take the Foods
world-wide the cycle team with its high profile in Europe would obviously
be a main part of its marketing plans.
I will go back a stage even further. In 1999 we had Motorola as
a sponsor investing a six figure sum into the team. This agreement
was two years. My contact had said to them that LMC Foods would be
able to do this and that, and also that they would discuss running
some kind of Motorola promotion on Food packaging. This was because
they had made a new two way radio aimed at safety for kids. They thought
that with the McCartney family having such strong family values this
would be a great link.
When the deal was under way and they contacted to do this my contact
at Linda McCartney Foods who would only say they cannot do the things
they had initially agreed to. His standard phrase was that Paul turned
down xxx amount of million to do an advert for a major company so
why would he want to do that. When I met with Motorola at the end
of the year they said to me, "who the hell is that person?"
Motorola ceased their involvement with the team for 2000, leaving
the team a six figure sum lighter.
Whenever I met with my contact or brought sponsors to meet, he had
always said that LMC Foods was making x amount of million per year.
It's only when one of LMC Foods more senior people, who always has
been straight with me, and called a spade a spade, told me that it
was a cottage industry and told me the real facts and figures that
things began to sink in.
Going back to last year with LMC Foods never coming forward to the
team my contact kept telling me that they were a huge dinosaur and
it will happen but will take its time. By now approaching May (Tour
of Italy) we had started to hit the problems. I called my contact
and said we would have to pull out of the Tour of Italy. It was agreed
to bring forward the 2001 budget. My contact said to me that he would
be having more meetings with LMC Foods in America to get them on board.
"I was never over worried about using the 2001 sponsorship money as
I was just waiting for LMC Foods."
We did the Tour of Italy and my contact came to the last stage in
Milan. The only time ever a representative from the company had made
the effort to come to a race, but this was only to meet two representatives
from Italian supermarket chains who had approached me via the press
in Italy about bringing the Foods into Italy and because we had reached
crisis point.
On the last night I met my contact in his room and he said to me
that he had been with Heinz and over the next few days our problem
would be over. Last week I taped a telephone conversation with him
and three times I asked him why he had said to me that LMC Foods would
be coming in, his answer was only that it was not his fault if they
did not.
After my contact had told me in the Tour of Italy that this would
be coming through Tracie and I increased overdrafts with banks, more
loans just to keep the team going.
July. At the Tour of Italy we had an MD of an American company spend
time with the team. He wanted to come in as a sponsor. After the Giro
I spent many days with him going through the books and negotiating.
After it became clear to him that LMC Foods were in fact, let's say
getting a hell of a lot for their money, he said to me that with the
figure we were discussing he did not see it fair or correct that he
would be getting smaller branding space for between 5-6 times the
investment.
He made an approach to me to buy the team. He would still have the
Linda McCartney logo on the clothing but the team would be in his
name. He would honour all contracts from July 1 of 2000 and contracts
that were already agreed for 2001, but on one condition, that LMC
Foods paid the shortfall in the budget. This meant paying the overdrafts
with the banks. He said to them he felt that they were just paying
for advertising they had already received. All parties concerned met
in Paris. LMC Foods would not agree to this and said that O C Racing
& Promotions (me and Tracie) would have to agree with banks etc to
pay them off over a number of years.
Another point. On the LMC Foods contract. It clearly sates that
although it accepted that other sponsors will be involved in the team,
no sponsor will be equal or greater in branding size than Linda McCartneyÉ
Anyway this sponsor decided he could not deal like this and pulled
out of any further talks.
Moving on again. Another thing I told my contact recently was of
my discussion with LMC Foods' new Marketing Manager.
Throughout November and December after my contact saying many times
he would be setting a meeting up with the new Marketing Manager I
finally made contact with him myself. He was always too busy to meet,
this I understood as he had only just started his new post.
He told me he would meet me in January. Anyway I called him around
January 11 and talked for over 1 hour on my mobile. He finally told
me that he would not be using the team as it "HAD TOO MUCH OF A STRONG
VEGETARIAN IMAGE" and they were going the healthy eating route. I
said to him where does that leave me with the team, what does he suggest
I do? He said take it up with Paul McCartney.
Now I believe that we have continued promoting this team exactly
as Linda wished. If anyone from the company had bothered to see the
response from the public, TV and press in Europe as well as in the
UK press they would have taken notice.
We have pushed and promoted this team and the lifestyle under stressful
circumstances and with no moral support from the company.
I am very sorry for the problems it has left some riders and staff
with. But the one left with the biggest problems is me and my family.
The one mistake I made in all this was that I should have waited
one week after the Giro and when funds were not forthcoming from LMC
Foods I should have pulled the plug on the team there and then.
Julian Clark